Do Justice - Economic Justicehttp://dojustice.crcna.org/topic/economic-justice
Learn more on the Office of Social Justice website.
Have something to say about economic justice? Write for us!
enAgents of Hope in Unjust Structureshttp://dojustice.crcna.org/article/agents-hope-unjust-structures
<div class="yoxview">
<div class="yoxview-image-preview">
<div class="field-type-image clearfix">
<a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/field/image/Do%20Justice%20columnist%20images%20%2816%29.png">
<img src="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Do%20Justice%20columnist%20images%20%2816%29.png?itok=QV7f5UCc" alt="" title=""/>
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="textformatter-list"><a href="/author/neil" class="node node-619 node-bio node-reference">Neil --</a></div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Created in God’s image, human beings were made with a unique capacity for developing structure and accentuating the beauty of God’s world. God’s intention was that we would be like his signet ring (see Haggai 2:23), representing and ushering in his justice and righteousness as the caretakers of this world, and of each other. We are meant to make his glory known.</p>
<blockquote><h5>God’s intention was that we would be like his signet ring.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>And yet, with our fallen nature and the preponderance of unconverted hearts, we have more often become responsible for multiplying chaos, adding ugliness, and causing evil to flourish. Throughout human history, systems that were developed to avoid and overcome injustice and disorder often end up promoting corruption.</p>
<p>According to God’s Word, this disgraceful state began not long after God first breathed his life-giving spirit into us, when we willfully fell from our original state of innocence. Ever since that day, despite our best efforts to curb it, this fault-line between us and God, and between ourselves, has been growing. We grieve so many of the most deeply-rooted and seemingly insurmountable problems which our world faces.</p>
<p>And yet, for us who are salt and light in the world, shouldn’t there be a way forward? Where does the grace and the ministry of reconciliation and love that the Church has received fit within those systems that reflect both God-given order and our human fallenness? Will it take a re-examination and perhaps even unravelling of some of the systems that previous generations put in place? What should the role of the Church be in all of this? How do we become agents of transformation?</p>
<blockquote><h5>Systems that were developed to avoid and overcome injustice and disorder often end up promoting corruption.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>A first step in this process is to be alert and to acknowledge where sin rears its ugly head. Take a moment to question the status quo of our institutions: what if certain rules, laws, and even socialized norms that we have grown accustomed to actually favor only specific classes of people, and what if there is a “loop-hole” of self-serving present at their cores, intentionally placed there from their beginnings, so that these systems and institutions could reward some and penalize or exclude others? Or, if we would rather give the benefit of the doubt to our systems, then consider how often people are denied what they are entitled to, simply by virtue of a loophole or an authority’s misinterpretation of a rule. You know it. I know it. It’s a fact of life. Even when systems are intended to operate well, they can and do fail to guarantee justice.</p>
<p>Let me throw out three scenarios to prime the pump:</p>
<p>Although college admission standards aim to be fair, it doesn’t always work out that way. While the world may need more ambitious people to use their access to training and education for a common good, those who have been coached in navigating the system, who know the right people, and who can jump through the hoops of higher academia end up earning the qualifications to become our public servants. And meanwhile, others who are naturally talented to serve—perhaps not to be academics—may deserve to be further equipped, but can be excluded by the systems of university enrollment. The result can be that those who benefit most from the current system and have the least motivation to change it get access to promotions, and who are most content to maintain the status quo get access to promotions and maintain unjust systems.</p>
<blockquote><h5>Let me throw out three scenarios to prime the pump.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>Or think of the academically gifted child whose parents struggle to provide 3 healthy meals per day, work various jobs to provide for their kids, and don’t live in a district with a good school. What are the chances that this latch-key youth will be identified as a leader when compared to those with more advantages? We may applaud the exceptions, whose stories are heralded on the big-screen, but should such people really be unusual by God’s standard? Didn’t he create them in their mothers’ wombs too?</p>
<p>Or take the situation of certain countries in the Middle East, where the numbers of refugees continue to balloon. We all know that we live in a time of unprecedented numbers of displaced peoples. How well are governments and the international community stewarding money and resources to care for refugees? Is pushing them to the countries which are already stretched thin on resources, like Lebanon or Egypt a workable solution? The reality for refugees in Egypt is that the UN Refugee Agency’s rules on financial aid limit eligibility to families who have only one parent and more than six children. Think about that! This results in many desperately needy families and thousands of unaccompanied minors. Does this seem just?</p>
<blockquote><h5>How can our systems better reflect God’s compassion and justice?</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>How can our systems better reflect God’s compassion and justice? When we are paying attention, the picture before us is grim. And yet, there is hope. After all, Christ is King.</p>
<p>John Calvin, describing our role as conveyers of God’s grace, faith, hope, and Christ’s love, writes:</p>
<blockquote><p>“The whole world is a theatre for the display of the divine goodness, wisdom, justice, and power, but the Church is the orchestra, as it were—the most conspicuous part of it; and the nearer the approaches are that God makes to us, the more intimate and condescending the communication of his benefits…”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is the evidences of hope that the Church holds that can cause our neighbors to grow curious and to ask those questions that will lead families and communities to eternal life. The Church has an important role to play in the world today. We need to consider how our systems can be redesigned for good. How can we turn those structures which are preventing people from experiencing grace into structures which reflect the grace of God in Christ? We need to do this as the Church, revealing Christ.</p>
<blockquote><h5>It will take intentionality and advocacy to make an impact that is felt by the world. </h5>
</blockquote>
<p>The good news is that the Church is doing this. Examples abound. I recently came across three wonderful examples as I was travelling and observing healthy Christian organizations at work in the U.S., Egypt, and Australia. As a testimony to what God is doing through the Church, allowing systems and institutions to challenge the status quo and reflect Christ’s goodness and justice, in my next couple of articles I'll be sharing what I've seen. Here are some questions I’m posing, which I see the Church responding to…</p>
<ul><li>How is the Church finding ways to empower and equip refugees in the process of addressing their own people’s needs?</li>
<li>How is the Church involved in adapting educational structures in order to welcome students who are ready to make a difference in the world?</li>
<li>How is the Church bringing about urban transformation by identifying, inviting, and developing the least and the lowest to become a new generation of leaders?</li>
</ul><p>In the meantime, take a moment to look around yourself. What do you see in the Church’s institutional posture? What questions are you asking of the institutional injustices of our societies? Is the church in your area showing God’s creativity, patience, and courage? It will take intentionality and advocacy to make an impact that is felt by the world...but the results can be extraordinary—and that is our calling!</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/theology" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Theology</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/economic-justice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Economic Justice</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Refugees</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/categories/why-church-cares" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Why the Church Cares</a></div></div></div>Fri, 27 Apr 2018 07:00:00 +0000drowaan851 at http://dojustice.crcna.orgJustice and Consumptionhttp://dojustice.crcna.org/article/justice-and-consumption
<div class="yoxview">
<div class="yoxview-image-preview">
<div class="field-type-image clearfix">
<a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/field/image/pexels-photo-243103.jpg">
<img src="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/pexels-photo-243103.jpg?itok=y0e5QZVJ" alt="" title=""/>
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="textformatter-list"><a href="/author/jack-van-de-hoef" class="node node-823 node-bio node-reference">Jack Van de Hoef</a></div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em>The <a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/article/creation-care-preaching-challenge">Creation Care Preaching Challenge</a> submissions are in! Thank you to everyone who participated for helping us to reflect on the Bible's teachings about creation care. This is a portion of a submission from Jack Van de Hoef and was originally preached at Bethel CRC in Brockville, Ontario. <a href="https://network.crcna.org/social-justice/justice-and-consumption-sermon-jeremiah-2213-17">You can read the full sermon here</a>, or find past submissions by <a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/article/cosmic-hope-creation">Kory Plockmeyer</a> and <a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/article/earth-lord%E2%80%99s-restore-it">Phillip Leo</a>. </em></p>
<p>Text:<em> </em>Jeremiah 22:13-17</p>
<p>The king’s name was Shallum or Jehoahaz. That’s who the prophet Jeremiah is talking about in these verses (see verse 11.) Shallum was the son of King Josiah, but he was not anything like his father. Where King Josiah introduced reforms to return the people of Israel to true worship of God, Shallum was a selfish, arrogant tyrant. What he cared about most was to have a fancy house to live in that looked better than the houses of everyone else. He didn’t pay his workers proper wages to build his extravagant palace, if he paid them at all. He took advantage of others for the sake of his own personal gain.</p>
<p>It’s easy, when you are not one of the really rich people in society, to despise those who have more. We mutter over the growing number of people on the Sunshine List, those in the public sector in Ontario who earn a salary of more than $100,000. We even scoff at some of the specific names and question the validity of their salary. Do they really need to earn that much?!</p>
<blockquote><h5>It’s easy, when you are not one of the really rich people in society, to despise those who have more.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s so easy to look at others and consider how privileged they are. I’m just one of those ordinary people trying to make ends meet, right? The harsh words of justice and right living are for those “other” rich people, not for us.</p>
<p>But then I did a short survey at a website called <a href="http://slaveryfootprint.org">slaveryfootprint.org</a>. I answered a bunch of questions about my lifestyle and buying habits. At the end of the survey, I was informed that at least 31 slaves work for me. There are at least 31 people who have done work to support my living habits and did not receive proper wages. Or they have received no wages at all to produce some of the things that I enjoy every day.</p>
<p>Someone else might fill out that survey and have 56 slaves that work for them, so then my 31 slaves do not look so bad. But child labour, debt bondage, sex trafficking, forced marriage or other forms of slavery are wrong for even one person to produce one product that I enjoy.</p>
<blockquote><h5>At the end of the survey, I was informed that at least 31 slaves work for me.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>Listen to the words of Jeremiah 22 as found in The Message: “Doom to the one who builds palaces but bullies people, who makes a fine house but destroys lives, who cheats their workers and won’t pay them for their work, who says, ‘I’ll build myself an elaborate mansion with spacious rooms and fancy windows and rare and expensive woods and the latest in interior decor.’”</p>
<p>Woe, doom, to the one who takes wonderful care of themselves at the expense of others. Woe, doom, to the one who provides for their own luxuries or comfortable living at the expense of others who work for nothing.</p>
<p>We love to find a good deal. When people give a compliment on what we are wearing, we often enjoy telling the story of the great bargain that we got. Why is it, when we buy something nice that’s inexpensive, we think we’re a smart shopper? Is cheap/inexpensive always better?</p>
<p>What if we would pause at the point of purchase and ask questions like, “Why is this so cheap? I wonder if the person who made this was paid a fair wage.”</p>
<blockquote><h5>We are so absorbed in our consumption of things and entertainment that we ignore or forget what the cost is to the rest of the world.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>We, as a culture, are so absorbed in our consumption of things and entertainment that we ignore or forget what the cost is to the rest of the world. As well, the complexities of current supply chains of most large food and clothing suppliers and manufacturers are intricate and confusing. It is difficult to know where exactly a child is used along the line. But some countries are known to use child labour more than others and those countries are big exporters to Canada.</p>
<p>The International Labour Organization believes there are 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 who participate in child labour, which is defined as work that is physically or mentally harmful and interferes with schooling.</p>
<p>Can we change this? Can we make any kind of difference? Remember <a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/article/rebuke-your-neighbor">the factory collapse in Bangladesh almost four years ago, where just over 1100 workers died</a>? In the ruins of that factory, people found articles of Joe Fresh clothing. After much publicity and public pressure, the parent company, Loblaw has been involved in improving conditions for garment workers. Exactly what has happened in the past four years is difficult to determine, but changes can happen.</p>
<p>Are the words of challenge to the unjust king in Jeremiah only addressed to those who are rich, to government leaders or corporate officials? What is our responsibility toward justice for the workers who supply our food and clothing?</p>
<blockquote><h5>We need to let them know that we care whether men, women, and children are enslaved to make the products we buy.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>As consumers, we can begin to ask our favourite companies what they are doing to be part of the solution in building a slave-free economy. It’s easy to claim that, in our global economy, it’s too difficult to address the supply chain and to guarantee slave-free products. However, can we believe that nothing is too hard or justifies the enslavement of other human beings? It might be challenging, but it is not impossible.</p>
<p>Companies spend millions of dollars on marketing strategies to get our attention and build a relationship with us to get us to buy their products. They create surveys, campaigns, and advertisements all in hopes that their investment will pay off later in our exchange of money for their services or goods. We need to let them know that we care whether men, women, and children are enslaved to make the products we buy. We need to communicate to our favourite companies and brands that we will put our money toward those what are honestly and transparently working toward a slave-free economy.</p>
<p>It might cost us more. It might raise our grocery or clothing expenses. It might mean we spend our limited income differently. Let’s look at our coffee habit, for example. It’s an easy target. What would happen if all the coffee drinkers would ask about the child labour practices used in harvesting coffee beans? What if we would insist on using fair trade coffee, which pays farmers a fair market value?</p>
<blockquote><h5>When it comes to stewarding our purchasing power, we should begin by praying for wisdom.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s easy to judge the rich executives. Let’s not neglect to look at our own participation and responsibility to live justly and care for others, to love our neighbour as ourselves.</p>
<p>When it comes to stewarding our purchasing power, we should begin by praying for wisdom. This is counter-cultural thinking in a world where impulse buying and the “we want what we want” mentality is embedded in our consumption habits. In slowing down and thoughtfully questioning how things are made and produced, we will be able to reallocate our spending to slave-free items that we need and begin to understand what real value is: when all lives are treated with dignity.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/creation-care" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Creation Care</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/canada" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Canada</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/fair-trade" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Fair Trade</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/economic-justice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Economic Justice</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/categories/best-practices" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Best Practices</a></div></div></div>Mon, 26 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0000drowaan824 at http://dojustice.crcna.orgGod is at Work in the Marketplacehttp://dojustice.crcna.org/article/god-work-marketplace
<div class="yoxview">
<div class="yoxview-image-preview">
<div class="field-type-image clearfix">
<a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/field/image/joella-in-india.jpg">
<img src="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/joella-in-india.jpg?itok=lfjrlSxs" alt="" title=""/>
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="textformatter-list"><a href="/author/joella-ranaivoson" class="node node-583 node-bio node-reference">Joella Ranaivoson</a></div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>It’s been three weeks of taking in the wonder that is India—its vibrant colors, the delicious food, its immense complexity and diversity, and the warm and kind people who have greeted, been with, and served us as guests in their home country.</p>
<p>I have spent the last three weeks with fourteen Calvin College students and two colleagues, Leonard and Karen Van Drunen, on the Business as Mission India Interim trip. We are here to learn about best business practices from Indian business people, and to observe and learn from our neighbors how God is at work in the marketplace.</p>
<blockquote><h5>I have spent the last three weeks with fourteen Calvin College students and two colleagues on the Business as Mission India Interim trip.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>We started in Delhi, headed to Agra, on to Hyderabad, and I write from Pune where we are finishing up our travels and learning before heading to Mumbai for a last stop before traveling back to Michigan. </p>
<p>Our time here in India has been centered on engaging business men and women about if and how they see their business as mission, what practices that entails, and how faith connects with or informs their business.</p>
<p>We’ve been observing and debriefing as a group with our local hosts about how the businesses we have visited with do justice in their practices, how they steward their resources, how they are making a profit to be sustainable, and how they love their neighbor, specifically their customers and employees.</p>
<p>We’ve received the knowledge and wisdom and gracious hospitality of those running businesses whose profit goes to fund non-profits rehabilitating women and girls from sex trafficking, to I.T. companies particular about hiring women programmers and creating a staff environment where the trust resembles that of a family, to a medical migration center preparing migrants and immigrants for travel abroad, to bi-vocational architect-farmers and self-starting real estate owners building into a local economy.</p>
<p>It is inspiring to see how involved and willing to take risks and invest in business the folks we have met are. One of our hosts was commenting on how the vast majority of people in India (1.4 billion people, mind you) are involved in business of some kind, even if a very small business venture.</p>
<blockquote><h5>It is inspiring to see how involved and willing to take risks and invest in business the folks we have met are.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>There’s an attitude and perspective of the worth of risk-taking, and that has contributed to India being one of the key players that are growing in stature and importance in the global economy and commerce. That is why the premise of this Interim trip to India is that students interested in or studying business ought to become more familiar with India.</p>
<p>We started the interim back in Delhi talking about how the term business often has negative connotations in the way we use it: when one partner cheats another for unfair profit, we may say, “It’s just business;” or when a dog leaves a surprise on the neighbor’s lawn, the dog is “doing its business.” There is often, perhaps particularly in Christian circles, a negative connotation or inherent dirtiness associated with business.</p>
<p>But business is what allows things to run—God has given people the innovation, creativity, skills, and talents to create, start, run, and grow businesses. We need business in the world. Business in itself is not a bad thing, it is good. And the people that do business are using their God-given gifts. The business people we have met in India, all of them men and women of Christian faith, know and live the importance of business.</p>
<p>This is may be obvious at this point but let me say it anyway—there does not need to be a divide, a separation, or inconsistency between business and one’s Christian faith—faith and business are not mutually exclusive, as we are brilliantly seeing being demonstrated here in India.</p>
<blockquote><h5>I have been guilty of not seriously considering business as a vocation given by God. I’m reforming on that count.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>One businessman in particular, upon learning I was the pastor in the group accompanying the students and professors said, “One of the hardest things is to tell our pastors, business is not bad! Business is good.” And it made me sad to realize that yes, that would be something some (perhaps many) clergy folk would need to be convinced of, and that yes, I have been guilty of not seriously considering business as a vocation given by God to sisters and brothers of mine, but as just something you do. I’m reforming on that count.</p>
<p>God is at work in the marketplace. It’s a deep privilege to accompany my students and colleagues on this trip, learning from them in their field of business, accounting, human resources, information systems, entrepreneurship, and finance, and learning from my brothers and sisters here in India who are living their faith and running their businesses. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/economic-justice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Economic Justice</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/fair-trade" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Fair Trade</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/categories/best-practices" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Best Practices</a></div></div></div>Fri, 02 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0000drowaan811 at http://dojustice.crcna.orgPro-Life series: Canadian Mining Companies in Latin Americahttp://dojustice.crcna.org/article/pro-life-series-canadian-mining-companies-latin-america
<div class="yoxview">
<div class="yoxview-image-preview">
<div class="field-type-image clearfix">
<a href="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/field/image/photos.de_.tibo_.jpg">
<img src="http://dojustice.crcna.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/photos.de_.tibo_.jpg?itok=Vch6upxO" alt="" title=""/>
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="textformatter-list"><a href="/author/anna-vogt" class="node node-64 node-bio node-reference">Anna Vogt</a></div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>I was in a grocery store in a small Colombian city the other day, hoping against hoping to find the elusive holy grail of imports: cheddar cheese. While I did not find any cheese, what I did come across was even more unlikely. There, in the middle of the bakery section, were stacks of boxed donuts, each one adorned with a maple leaf sticker proudly proclaiming the contents a Product of Canada.</p>
<p>What do donuts have to do with life, you may ask? One the goals of my job in advocacy is to support people in Latin America in their desire for a life lived with dignity, free of violence and fear. Being pro-life is not only about protecting human lives from death, but also about speaking up for the kind of lives that our loving Creator intends for the works of His hands—lives of dignity and freedom. For me, therefore, supporting this right for a dignified life must include an examination of policies that impact those living outside of our borders. </p>
<blockquote><h5>The longer I live in Latin America, the more I learn of Canadian presence in the region.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>Just like those donuts, we may not often expect to find Canada in Latin America, yet the longer I live in Latin America, the more I learn of Canadian presence in the region, often with negative results that make living with dignity difficult.</p>
<p>What Canada does as a country in the rest of the world shapes who we are as Canadians and what we stand for; including human rights and respect for life.</p>
<p>Over the last eight years, Canada’s goals in the region have been highly focused on trade and economic policy in the region, implemented through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Currently, Canada has <a href="http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/fta-ale.aspx?lang=eng">Free Trade Agreements</a> with seven countries in Latin America (Honduras, Colombia, Panamá, Perú, Costa Rica, Chile, and Mexico) and is in negotiations for five more (Caribbean community, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic). </p>
<blockquote><h5>Canada is host to 75 per cent of the world’s largest exploration and mining companies.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>Trade can have a positive impact on a society, but if precautions are not taken, engaging in trade with few regulations in countries of conflict or with high levels of human rights violations can cause negative social impacts. In the majority of Canadian FTA negotiations, local civil society has spoken out against the agreements because of fear of worsening conditions for human rights and thus the ability to live well. Colombia, for example, is the <a href="http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/fta-ale.aspx?lang=eng">most dangerous country in the world</a> to be a union leader. <a href="http://www.ccic.ca/_files/en/making_a_bad_situation_worse_long_version.pdf">Civil society worries</a> that the current FTA, <a href="http://lacaadvocacy.org/2013/07/16/the-annual-canada-colombia-free-trade-blog-post/">which does not adequately monitor its impact on human rights</a>, provides implicit approval for impunity. The same FTA has <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-quietly-loosens-limits-on-assault-weapon-exports-to-colombia/article6861525/">opened the doors for assault weapons export</a>—weapons currently banned in Canada—to Colombia, a country that already has over six million internally displaced people because of violence.</p>
<p>Many of our FTAs facilitate access for Canadian based companies to extractive sectors in Latin American countries. These corporations are viewed as the most important actors in generating economic growth, yet there is a concerning lack of accountability, amid accusations of human rights violations and irreparable environmental destruction, ultimately harmful for dignified life.</p>
<p>Currently, Canadian companies are only responsible for upholding <a href="https://nacla.org/article/canadian-mining-still-unaccountable">voluntary corporate social responsibility standards</a>. As this <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/we-need-to-better-regulate-canadian-companies-abroad/article25670371/">Globe and Mail article</a> states “Canada is host to 75 per cent of the world’s largest exploration and mining companies, as well as more than 100 medium– to large-sized oil and gas companies, many of which operate in developing countries. Major and minor players in Canada’s extractive industry have been the subject of serious allegations of complicity in grave human rights abuses.”</p>
<blockquote><h5>I would like Canada to be more known in the region for its donuts than for harmful foreign policy.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/aug/12/guatemala-gold-mine-protester-beaten-burnt-alive">Marlin Mine in Guatemala</a>, owned by the Canadian company GoldCorp, is one of the most emblematic projects, for concerns raised about human rights violations, environmental degradation and lack of prior consultation, but it is not unique. In <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/may/14/canadian-mining-serious-environmental-harm-iachr">Honduras</a>, for example, Canadian mining has displaced Indigenous groups and contributed to violence, after an FTA was signed after a military-backed coup in 2009.</p>
<p>In fact, laws and regulations currently in place favour the activities of Canadian companies abroad above all other considerations. A report entitled <a href="http://www.dplf.org/sites/default/files/report_canadian_mining_executive_summary.pdf"><em>The Impact of Canadian Mining in Latin America and Canada’s Responsibility</em></a>, outlines how Canadian companies are taking advantage of, and actively encouraging, weak legal frameworks around extraction in multiple Latin American countries.</p>
<p>As a Canadian living in Latin America, I would like Canada to be more known in the region for its donuts than for harmful foreign policy. Now is a good time to <a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/blog/may-mining-justice-month">ask for change</a> that upholds the right to a dignified life for all. </p>
<p><em>[Image: Flickr user <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/legalcode">photos.de.tibo</a>]</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/economic-justice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Economic Justice</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/indigenous-justice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Indigenous Justice</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/topic/canada" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Canada</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Category:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/categories/new-opportunities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">New Opportunities</a></div></div></div>Fri, 30 Oct 2015 19:17:43 +0000drowaan425 at http://dojustice.crcna.org